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TO 



KOSCIUSKO AEMSTRON&'S ASSAULT 



COL. MCKEiNiNEY'S NARRATIVE 



OF THE 



CAUSES THAT LED TO GENERAL ARMSTRONG'S 

RESIGNATION OF THE OFFICE OF 

SECRETARY OF WAR IN 1814. 




THOMAS L. MCKENNEY. 



WILLIAM H 



NEW YORK: 

I'RIBUNE BUILDINGS, 



-TREET. 



E E P L Y 



TO 



KOSCIUSKO ARMSTRONG'S ASSAULT 



COL. MCKENNErS N AMATIVE 



CAUSES THAT LED TO GENERAL ARMSTRONG'S 

RESIGNATION OF THE OFFICE OF 

SECRETARY OF WAR IN 1814. 



BY .^^^ 

THOMAS LfMCKENNEY. „.^.e,^ 



NEW YORK: 
WILLIAM H. GRAHAM, TRIBUNE BUILDINGS, 

161 NASSAU STREET. 

1847. 



>/3 A73 



REPLY 



KOSCIUSKO ARMSTRONG'S REVIEW. 



A FEW months ago I published a work entitled—" Memoirs, Offi- 
cial AND Personal, with sketches of travels among the 
Northern and Southern Indians ; embracing a war excursion, 

AND descriptions OF SCENES ALONG THE WesTERN BoRDERS," &C., &C. 

In those " memoirs " are introduced many circumstances connected 
with both my " official" and " personal " relations, that occurred at 
Washington, at, and about the period of its invasion and capture, 
by the British in 1814. Prominent among these was the resignation 
of General Armstrong of the office of Secretary of War ; the causes, 
in a narrative form, which led to that resignation, I incorporated in 
my " memoirs," under the caption (as will be seen on referring to 
chapter 2, vol. 1.), " Vindication of General Armstrong." 

This vindication, Kosciusko Armstrong has thought proper to meta- 
morphose into what he is pleased to denominate " an attack on General 
Armstrong ;" and having by sophistry, and false issues, and reckless 
assertions, so fashioned it, proceeded in a pamphlet of some twenty 
pages, to " review," and rancorously to assail and denounce the narra- 
tive ViS false. 

Upon the appearance of this " review," I issued " a card,^' asking a 
suspension of public opinion until I could communicate with witnesses 
at Washington, and elsewhere, by whom I promised to prove my nar- 
rative tnie. 

I now proceed, as pledged, in that " card," to make that promise 
good. 



A word or two (by way of preliminary) upon the first paragraph 
of Kosciusko Armstrong's review. He begins by an attack upon my 
book ; and by asserting that I " attack " General Armstrong. Of the 
book, he asserts it to be '■'■chiefly devoted to a defence of my official 
conduct as Superintendent of Indian Affairs" — there being, as the fair 
inference is, no place in it, to " introduce a political reminiscence," 
save only by the process of dovetailing it ; — and it is this " political 
reminiscence" which he represents as being "evidently intended as an 
attack on the late General Armstrong." 

The book refutes the first assertion ; and the narrative, the second. 

How seventeen pages, in the body of the work, and twenty-eight in 
the appendix, in all forty-four, can with the least semblance of truth 
be said to constitute a " chief " portion of a work of four hundred 
and fifty-three pages ^ is left to the public to decide. 

How far my " narrative " can be, with justice, tortured into an 
" attack" upon General Armstrong, is referred, also, to the decision 
of the public. As many may have read Kosciusko Armstrong's review 
who have not seen my narrative, I subjoin it. The reader will not 
fail to perceive that at every point where General Armstrong had been 
implicated, and denounced, a shield is interposed, in this very narrative, 
to screen him from the effects [so far as it might be competent to do 
so] of such implications and denunciations. When I say " He [Gene- 
ral Armstrong] in my interviews with him, appeared to me to doubt 
the intentions of the enemy to invade the capital," I add, " in which I 
have no doubt he was sincere — I found some difficulty in procuring 
the necessary arms, and equipments, &c., for the troops, as they came 
in." Again — "The charge of Traitor, which was lavishly employed 
against General Armstrong, / ?iei^er believed.'''' I then proceed, as the 
narrative will show, to assign the reasons that led me to these con- 
clusions. 

THE NARRATIVE. 

" During the late war with Great Britain, or the greater part of it, as is laiown to 
every body, Mr. Monroe was Secretary of State, and General Armstrong Secretary of 
War; it is known, also, that soon after the capture of Washington, and the confla- 
gration of its capitol. General Armstrong was superseded in the office of Secretary of 
War by Mr. Monroe. It was soon whispered, that this change had been produced 
by the undermining agency of Mr. Monroe. Whence the rumor came, or by whom 
it was originated, no one knew. But it remained a source of deep disquiet to harass 
Mr. Monroe to the hour of his death. 

" I can never forget, when, being in New York during his last illness, I called, and 
within only a few days of his death, at Mr. Gouvcrneur'.s^iis son-in-law — to see 
him. He was greatly emaciated, and his cough was so oppressive to him, as to make 
even the ordinary intercourse, under such circumstances, painful to the visitor. I 



had but just seated myself, when he began — ' Colonel McKenney, your call is wel- 
come to me. I am glad to see you. I have something to say to you, and hope you 
will allow me time. You see I am veiy feeble, and can say but little at a time, 
owing to this cough.' He then proceeded to state, in substance, that it was among 
his most cherished wishes to leave to his descendants a spotless reputation ; that he 
had but little else left for them. ' There is one thing,' he continued, ' which you 
must know something of I want to talk to )'ou about it, and to get your knowledge 
of the case, embodied in a wTitten form. I have reason for believing that General 
Armstrong indulges the belief that I was instrumental in causing his removal from 
the office of Secretary of War. I know I had no agency whatever in producing that 
result, but the general opinion being that he is writing a book, he may, if he really 
believes in the truth of this implication, so state it ; and I may be regarded by pos- 
terity in that most unenviable light in which such a record would place me. Pray 
tell me all you know about the circumstances that led to that change — to his removal, 
I mean, or separation from the War Department.' I gave him the following 
reply : — 

" My intercourse was frequent with General Armstrong, beginning with the arri- 
val of the British forces in the Chesapeake. It was made my dut}-, from time to 
time, to report to him the arrival of troops, and their wants, in equipments, &c., &c. 
He appeared to me to doubt the intentions of the enemy to invade the capital ; and 
under the influence of this belief, in which I had no doubt he was sincere, I found 
some difficulty in procuring the necessary arms and equipments, &c., for troops, as 
they came in. After Commodore Barney had been forced to blow up his flotilla in 
the Patuxent, and our troops being at the battalion Old Fields, and I had come in as 
a vidette, having rode along the enemy's flanks, for over a mile, and picking up, on 
my return to camp, two British deserters, whom I brought in with me, 1 found on 
horseback, in om' camp, President Madison, General Armstrong, and two or three 
other persons, to whom, in j^resence of the Commanding General, I stated the posi- 
tion of the enem}', and what appeared to be their numbers, and gave it as my opinion 
that they would be at our encampment before daylight next morning. To which 
General Armstrong replied, ' They can have no such intention. They are foraging, 
I suppose; and if an attack is meditated by them upon any place, it is Annapolis.' 
The deserters were then interrogated, chiefly by President Madison. But they knew 
not who commanded them ; knew nothing of their destination, and as little of their 
numbers. I then asked them to look at our force, and say whether theirs was equal 
to it. They did so, and with a smile, said — ' We think it is.' 

" The President and party then rode off on the way to Washington ; and I was 
ordered to make another reconnoitre, which I did, when, as you know, sir, for I found 
you on your roan horse, observing the enemy, who was still advancing upon us, we 
continued to observe them, till they halted — began to bivouac, sling their kettles, &c., 
&c., when I returned to Battalion Old Fields, (you taking the road to Bladensburg) 
to report all this, and to say they were within a mile of us. Whereupon my com- 
manding officer, General Smith, ordered formed a line of battle, Commodore Barney's 
artillery being in advance of our main line, and near the wood that intervened 
between the two armies. The line being formed, I was ordered to go in quest of 
General Winder, General Smith remarking, ' I do not feel at liberty to take the res- 
ponsibility of the fight, if the commander-in-chief of the forces can be had to give 
direction to it.' Putting spurs to my horse, I lo.st not a moment in reaching what I 
had learned was the position of General Winder. I met him about eight miles from 
our encampment, delivered the message with which I was charged, when, putting 



spurs to his horse, we galloped back to camp together. Riding round the field, and 
observing the line of battle, he remarked, ' It is all well arranged, but the manifest 
object of the enemy is, to attack us in the night. We have not the material for a 
night fight.' Whereupon he gave orders to take up the line of march ; cross the 
eastern branch bridge, and occupy the heights beyond. We did so. This was the 
evening of the 23d of August. The next day, the affair of Bladensburg occurred. 
The result is known to everybody. 

" The enemy's next movement was upon Baltimore. Our forces were ordered to 
march for the defence of that city. We had not proceeded far, before a rumor reached 
us that the citizens of Washington and Georgetown did not feel safe, from causes of 
a domestic nature — when General Smith's command was ordered to repair to the 
city, and encamp on Windmill Hill. Meantime, the British shipping were in the 
Potomac. Alexandria had been captured and sacked. Apprehensions being enter- 
tained that they might ascend the Potomac in their boats, for the purpose of destroy- 
ing the cannon foundry, &c., batteries were thrown up on the shore of the Potomac, 
at tlie foot of Windmill Hill. While engaged in this duty. General Armstrong, of 
whom we had heard nothing after the evening of the interview at the Old Fields, rode 
on the ground. The impression had become universal, that, as Secretary of War, 
he had neglected to prepare the necessary defences; and that to this neglect, the 
capitol had been desecrated, and the glory of our arms tarnished. Indeed, many 
went further, openly and loudly. Charles Carroll, of Bellevue, the moment General 
Armstrong rode upon the ground, met him, and denounced him, openly and vehe- 
mently, as the cause of all the disasters that had befallen the city— when, with one 
impulse, the officers said to General Smith, ' There, sir, are our swords; we will 
not employ them, if General Armstrong is to command us, in his capacity of Secre- 
tary of War ; but we will obey the orders of any other member of the Cabinet.' At 
the same moment, the men at the batteries threw down their spades, avowing a like 
resolve. 

" General Smith called me to him, saying ' You see the state of things; I have 
just ordered Major Williams to report it to the President. Do you accompany him. 
Say to die President, that under the orders of any other member of the Cabinet, what 
can be done, will be done.' We rode off in haste, and overtook President Madison, 
Richard Rush (I believe), and a third person, on F. Street, in Washington, on horse- 
back—the government having been again organized at Washington. The message 
delivered to President Madison, was in accordance with the above, to the letter — the 
last sentence — ' But under any other member of t/ie Cabinet, tlie most cheerful duty will 
he rendered: The answer of the President was, ' Say to General Smith, the contin- 
gency (namely, that of any future orders being given by General Armstrong) shall 
\ot happen: A short time only had elapsed before it was known that General Arm- 
strong had ceased to be Secretary of War, and that you had succeeded him. We 
learned and I remember we confided in the source whence we derived our informa- 
tion, that President Madison suggested to General Armstrong, in view of the state of 
things, as narrated, whether it might not be proper for him to suspend his functions 
as war minister, over the District of Columbia, but to exercise them elsewhere. To 
which the general was said to have answered, ' he would be Secretary of War over 
the whole or none.' Mr. Madison receiving this as an inadmissible alternative, told 
him so, when General Armstrong ceased to be Secretary of War. ' This,' said Mr. 
Monroe, ' is all I want. It exonerates me from the charge of having undermined 
General Armstrong, by any agency of mine. So far as the facts were made known 
to me at the time, you state them correctly ; and the rest I have had from other 



sources since, and they corroborate what 3-011 say.' I promised to write out the nar- 
rative, as he had requested, and did so. Mr. Monroe died a few days alter this 
interview, and with him, the demand for a forthcoming of the facts. But I promised 
to shield him under such forms as might be in my power, from the charge ; and in 
incorporating the narrative here, I only make good that promise. The charge of 
traitor, which was lavishly employed against General Armstrong, I never believed. 
His whole fault lay in a total absence of faith in the intention of the British to attack 
Washington. And, indeed, the act struck every military mind then, as it does now, 
as one of the most unexampled temerity. An incursion, such as was made into a 
country densely peopled,'without artillery or cavalry, exposing both flank and rear to 
the capacity of such a city as Baltimore, was one of that kind of onsets which secures 
success only by the general apathy arising out of the belief that nothing so desperate 
would be attempted." — Vol. 1., pp. 43-48. 

But, as Kosciusko Armstrong has thought proper to spurn this inter- 
vention of my honestly expressed belief, and take his father's conduct 
out of the position in which I sought, in the spirit of kindness, to 
place it, and strike down the shield with his own hand, which I had 
raised to protect his name and his character from injury, be the respon- 
sibility his, not mine. 

I assumed, in my narrative, that the apathy of General Anustrong, 
which did not show itself to me only, but to all others (as I shall 
prove in the sequel), whose official duty made it necessary for them to 
call upon him as the " war minister," for the performance of duties 
belonging to his station — arose from his own honest conviction that 
there was no necessity to put up defences, issue arms, and equipments, 
&c., arising out of what I believed to be a no less honest conviction 
on his part, that the enemy did not embrace within the plan of his 
invasion, the capture of Washington. 

Kosciusko Armstrong flares up at this, denies, and denounces it, and 
asserts that the Secretary of War not only did believe in the ex- 
istence of such intention on the part of the enemy, but that he believed 
it as far back as " the 19th of August " — five days before the attack — 
ratifying and confirming it on " the 22d," and again, " at Battalion 
Old Fields, at 8 1-2 o'clock, August 23d," — the day preceding the in- 
vasion and capture and conflagration of the capitol. 

If Kosciusko Armstrong will have it so, then let him ; and let him, 
if he can, reconcile these assumptions of his father's belief in such in- 
tention on the part of the enemy, with the following testimony of 
General Walter Smith, Commander of the First Brigade of Volun- 
teers and Militia, of the District of Columbia. For the entire testi- 
mony, see his letter to me in Appendix [A] . 

" I, then," says General Smith, " commanded the First Brigade of Volunteers 
and Militia of the District of Columbia, and had an intimate acquaintance with most 
of the military measures adopted, or proposed, for the defence of the District. 



" During the period, I had but one occasion of personal communication with 
General Armstrong, but well remember that there was a general and indignant com- 
plaint among the officers ot the District having official conversation with him, for 
his great apathy and inertness, in regard to the defences of the District, and his 
frequent discourtesy towards those who pressed him on the subject. The instance 
of my personal communication with him, was at Battalion Old Fields, on the day pre- 
ceding the engagement at Bladensburg. At the time. General Winder was absent 
reconnoitreing, and in his absence I commanded the troops encamped at that place, 
numbering somewhat more than two thousand, and embracing in the number, 
besides my immediate Brigade, Commodore Barney's men and some other auxilia- 
ries. The enemy were then but a short distance from us, with more than double 
our force, and we were expecting an attack during the day, which we had prepared 
to resist.* At this stage a messenger arrived in camp from Colonel Minor, com- 
manding a regiment from Fairfax county, Virginia, with a note to General Winder 
stating that he was approaching with his force, about a thousand strong, under or- 
ders for Alexandria, but the information received, led him to believe it more impor- 
tant that he should move, instead, to Washington, so as to unite with the force then 
under General Winder's immediate command, and an immediate reply would reach 
him at the point where the roads to the two cities diverged. 

" In the absence of General Winder this note was brought to, and read, by me ; and 
feeling the importance of such an accession to our force, I at once communicated it 
to General Armstrong then in camp, with the suggestion that, in the circumstances, 
he should issue the requisite order to Colonel Minor. He treated the matter with 
great indiffi-^rence. and in a very unsatisfactory way, declined to give any order. I 
then carried the note to Mr. Madison, also in camp, who entertained a different view, 
and on being told of General Armstrong's course, gave the order, direct, to Colonel 
Minor, to move on to Washington, so as to unite with us. Under this order Colonel 
Minor reached Washington the same evening, but failed to unite with us at Bladens- 
burgh in time to participate in the engagement, because of the delay at the War De- 
partment in furnishing his force with arms and amrmmition." 

So much for General Smith's testimony on this point. This the 
reader will bear in mind was the same day, on which, as I have stated 
in my narrative, he (Armstrong) replied to my report of the near 
approach of the enemy, giving it as my opinion that they would be 
(as they were) at our encampment before daylight next morning — 
" They can liave no such intention. Tliey are foraging, I suppose ; 
and if an attack is meditated by them upon any place, it is Annapolis." 

The order had been given by Mr. Madison to Colonel Minor ; and 
when my interview took place, as above, Mr. Madison had given the 
order, and the parties were on horseback, just about returning to 
Washington — soon after rode off to the city. Meantime, Colonel 
Minor arrived in Washington. The Secretary of War had reached the 
city. The then Mayor of the city. Doctor Blake, I believe, accom- 
panied Colonel Minor, that same evening, the 23d August, to the 

* See my narrative — "formed a line of battle," &c. 



9 

residence of the Secretary of War. The object of Colonel Minor 
being an introduction to the Secretary of War by the Mayor, to pro- 
cure arms, etc., for his command. What says Wilkinson, in his 
memoirs, of their interview .'' " When Colonel Minor applied, the 
evening of the 23d August (the evening preceding the day of the bat- 
tle) for arms for 600* Virginian volunteers — the Secretary (Armstrong) 
observed, it would be time enough in the morning, but being pressed 
for the delivery by the Mayor, who introduced the Colonel — he, 
(Armstrong), with a******* smile, replied, " Doctor, you are 
more frightened than hurt." (See Wilkinson^s Memoirs, Vol. 1, note 
to page 758.) 

Kosciusko Armstrong insists that my representation of General Arm- 
strong's want of faith in the intention of the enemy to attack the city, 
is false, for that, however he might in the earlier stage of these pro- 
ceedings have entertained some doubts on the subject, he had changed 
his views on the 19th of August, and continued to entertain the belief 
that the enemy did meditate an attack on the Capital, and gave the 
corresponding orders so late as "8 1-2 o'clock, 23d August." What ! 
The " War Minister " believe this, and refuse to be instrumental, by 
an order, to add a thousand gallant Virginians, commanded by a brave 
officer to the forces then almost in the very front of the invading foe 
of " over twice our numbers .?" What ! Believe the enemy to be on 
their march to Washington, and demur a moment, when this regiment 
reached the Capital, to arm and equip it .'* And by such delay, keep 
them from the battle field, altogether till it was too late for them to 
contribute to the defence, and join their brothers in arms, in saving 
the Capital from the captvire and desecration which befell it ? 

I beg leave, with all due deference to Kosciusko Armstrong, to hold 
to my first impressions, that General Armstrong did not believe in the 
intention of the enemy to attack Washington ; that he was honest 
when he replied to my report of their movements and position, what 
he did about their " foraging," or " if an attack was meditated upon 
any place, it was Annapolis." But if he choose to entertain a con- 
trary opinion, that the Secretary of War did not thus believe, and 
inculcate it, he can of course do so. But who can adopt this con- 
clusion, without seeing where it leads .' 

But the conduct of General Armstrong was uniform on this subject of 
appeals to him for arms and equipments. Wilkinson says at page 
758, vol. 1 of his Memoirs — " General Armstrong, it is well known, 
treated every suggestion of danger with ridicule, until the enemy were 

* A mistake, or mis-print— there were 1000. 



10 

discovered in fidl march from Upper Marlborough." Again, same 
vol., page 738, he says — " The Secretary of War (Armstrong) made 
no concealment of his opinions, and treated as chimerical, the idea 
that the enemy meditated an attack of the Capital." But I have 
further and more direct proof of this " apathy." A letter from Colonel 
J. I. Stull of Georgetown, District of Columbia (which letter will be 
found entire in Appendix B) furnishes the following testimony : — 

•' Of Armstrong's refusal to furnish arms to troops, well qualified and ready to aid 
in defence of the Capital, I give the following personal proof — It is well known that 
at that time I commanded one of the largest companies attached to the brigade, 
composed of the best and most respectable members of our community, numbering 
one hundred and twenty men, raised and formed in 1811, to be always ready for the 
defence of their country. This company was well and completely equipped, well 
drilled, and duly prepared, in all respects, with the exception of rifles, which they 
had always hoped, and believed, Avould be furnished, when their services would be 
required in the field. On the formation of the company, in l8ll, there were no 
efficient rifles to be had, but for the purposes of drill, and parade, and exercise, 
General Mason, then Superintendent of Indian Affairs, loaned me a number of small, 
Indian, squirrel guns, then on deposit in his ofiice. Those guns having been in use 
for two years, became much impaired, and were totally useless, and under any cir- 
cumstances, unfit for war. In the spring and summer of 1814 it became almost 
certain that we should soon be brought into conflict with the enemy. I accordingly 
made early and repeated application to_the ordnance department, to be furnished with 
arms from Harper's Ferry, but always without .success. On the appointment of 
General Winder to the command of the lOth Military district, when at a brigade 
meeting of the troops, ordered b}' him, I displayed my compan)'-, showed its strength, 
and efficiency, except the proper arms, he at once saw the importance and neces- 
sity of the measm-e, and called {as he afterwards informed me he had done) on 
General Armstrong, but was told that he could not have them, and proposed to sub- 
stitute muskets, to which my men strenuously objected, on the ground that they had 
been drilled in the use of the rifle only, and that they had, for that reason, no confi- 
dence in muskets. So great was the anxiety of my men to obtain rifles, that they 
were willing to procure them at their own expense leather than take muskets. It was 
finally proposed that I should call, myself, on General Armstrong, and to leave no 
effort untried to obtain the Harper's Ferry rifles, of which it was understood there 
was an abundance in the arsenal at Washington, recently brought down from 
Harper's Ferry. 

" I accordingly called on General Armstrong, and urged the importance of the rifles 
being furnished. He promptly replied, saying that ' those rifles were intended, and 
were about to be sent to the northern army, and could not be spared ; ' remarking, 
further, that ' we could repair our old rifles, and that they would answer every pur- 
pose.' I left him with indignation. 

" On the 20th of August, the brigade was ordered to march. I repaired, in a short 
time, with 100 men, to Washington, with no alternative but to take muskets or re- 
main at home. It was then agreed, after some perseverance on my pari, to take mus- 
kets, but when called for, they could not be procured in time before tlie army took up 
its line of march. We fell into the ranks, and marched the first day, and encamped 
the first night, with tomahawks only. It was not until the next day that we received 



11 

the muskets, they being sent after us in wagons. They were quickly distributed. 
Much time and labor were spent in cleaning and preparing them for use, and after 
much difficulty and delay in proc- .ring ammunition and flints, we commenced the 
second day's march, &,c. The result of the 24th of August is well known." 

The rifles that would have been so efficient in the hands of this ad- 
mirably drilled company, never found their way to the northern army, 
but were consumed, with the capitol and public buildings, on the 25th 
August. 

The foregoing will, I presume, by an unprejudiced and intelligent 
public, be deemed sufficient proof to support so much of my " narra- 
tive," as charges apathy upon General Armstrong, and an indiffijrence to 
the calls made upon him, when Secretary of War, for arms, and equip- 
ments, &c., &c. Those who may have read Kosciusko Armstrong's 
assumptions and special pleadings to the contrary, cannot fail to be for- 
cibly struck with the diiFerence between his sophisms and these facts ; 
between discourteous and low-coined epithets, and the plain straight- 
forward testimony of honest, personal evidence. 

The next leading occurrence upon which Kosciusko Armstrong be- 
stows much of his rhetoric, and unmeaning and misapplied acrimony, 
is that which I assert in my narrative to hare taken place on Wind- 
mill Hill, when " Charles Carroll, of Bellevuc, the moment General 
Armstrong rode upon the ground, met him, and denounced him, openly 
and vehemently, as the cause of all the disasters that had befallen the 
city," &c., &c. "It is not very easy," says Kosciusko Armstrong, 
" at this late date, to ascertain whether or no General Armstrong ever 
was at Windmill Hill, as Mr. IVIcKenney asserts ; but in default of 
positive testimony, there is enough of moral evidence to show that the 
tale of Carroll's open denunciation is a miserable fiction.'''' Is it .' Now 
let us see. What says Gen. Smith : ( See his letter on this point in 
Appendix marked A.) 

" Some days after the engagement, when the British troops had retired from Wash- 
ington, and our local forces had been again organized there, and we were engaged in 
throwing up defences to resist an apprehended attack by water from the enemy's 
squadron then lying off Alexandria (see my ' Narrative'), General Armstrong returned 
to Washington, and rode into our camp (Windmill Hill), when the pent up indig- 
nation of the soldiery and citizens present, who were disposed to ascribe our disasters 
to his apathy and misconduct, at once broke forth. My first notice of his (Arm- 
strong's) presence in camp, was from the loud voice of Mr. Charles Carroll, then one 
of our most prominent citizens, which reached my quarters, refusing his (Arm- 
strong's) proffered hand, and denouncing his conduct. I was .soon notified of a gene- 
ral commotion in camp, and a pervading determination, too emphatically expressed 
to admit of doubt, not to serve under his orders. As became my duty, I at once des- 
patched my Brigade Major Williams, and yourself, then my aide-de-camp, to commit- 



12 

nicate this state of feeling to Mr. Madison, who had but a short time before left the 
camp. You two shortly afterwards reported that you had made the communication, 
I think, having overtaken Mr. Madi-son before he reached his quarters in Washing- 
ton, and bore his assurance to me, in reply, to the effect that he would give the matter 
his immediate deliberation and earnest consideration. He also expressed his anxious 
hope that the officers would endeavor to allay the existing excitement, and persevere in 
their measures for defence which had been decided upon, and had been sanctioned by 
him, and stated, ihat, meanwhile, no orders would be given by General Armstrong, con- 
flicting with them. On the next day it was known that General Armstrong had retired 
from the War Department. I feel assured that this is the only foundation for the 
charge made by Mr. Kosciusko Armstrong of a ' committee' having waited on the 
President, or of ' plots' for the removal of General Armstrong. I never heard of such 
committee, or of such plots, until now, and I think any such could not have escaped 
my knowledge. From your connexion with my military family, you certainly had 
not the opportunity of participating therein without such interruption of your then 
exceedingly active military duties, as must have attracted my attention." 

* Now what becomes of all the filigree contrivances, and assumptions, 
sophisms, and the rodomontade about " ??iom/ em'rfence" — so self-con- 
sequentially paraded by Kosciusko Armstrong, upon which he so confi- 
dently relies, and upon which he denounces this Carroll affair, " a mise- 
rable fictionV I have anticipated in part, the " Committee" afi"air, 
which he relies upon as confidently as the cause of Gen. Armstrong's 
severance from the Cabinet. I shall come to that in the sequel. In 
the meantime I proceed to submit testimony from another quarter, con- 
firming Gen. Smith's evidence. Where that upright and honorable 
man is known, his word needs no backer. But in such hands as Kos- 
ciusko Armstrong, no name would seem to be sufl&ciently enshrined in 
probity and honor, to be safe from his implications and assaults, — even 
the popular and patriotic Monroe is reflected upon by him, as being 
" art and part" " engaged in a dirty business." I therefore offer in addi- 
tion, the testimony of a witness who heard from Mr. Carroll's own lips, 
that he had, as has been stated, refused General Armstrong his hand, 
and denounced him openly and loudly. This witness is Mr. Daniel Mal- 
lory, now of New York, at that time a resident of Georgetown, D. C. — 
(See his letter entire in Appendix C). 

"I recollect perfectly well some of the transactions which took place in August, 1814, 
during the invasion of the seat of government, and the desecration of the City of 
Washington by the English forces under General Ross and Admiral Cockburn, to 
which you call my attention. 

" The charges against General Armstrong, then secretary of war, of incompetence 
— and neglect of duty — in not placing the capital in a proper state of defence, and 
some others of a more serious nature, were rife, and indeed common in and about 
Washington and Georgetown, as household words." (f:^ Not therefore, finding 
" credence and circulation only among the dregs of a militia camp" as is asserted by 
Kosciusko Armstrong.) 



13 

" Soon after, or about the time the British ships of war came up to Alexandria, a 
few days subsequent to the burning of the capitol, I heard JVIr. Carroll of Bellevue, 
at the Union Tavern, Georgetown, in the presence of a number of gentlemen say, that 
he had refused General Armstrong's proffered hand, with the declaration, that his 
conduct required full investigation and explanation, before he would again meet him 
as a gentleman, or as an honorable man. Mr. Carroll's language was vehemently 
denunciatory, openly charging the Secretary of War as the chief cause of the loss 
and disgrace attending these unfortunate and deplorable transactions." 

The public will decide whether my narrative, so fiercely denounced 
as false, iu this particular, by Kosciusko Armstrong, is, or is not, sup- 
ported by proof. 

But I have said in my narrative — " The charge of Traitor was lav- 
ishly employed against Gen. Armstrong." Was this so.? — See the 
testimony of Mr. Wm. Stewart of Georgetown, D. C. — (His letter 
entire in Appendix ^.) 

" I well remember that after the capture of Washington by the British in the year 
1814, a bitter and general feeling of resentment against General Armstrong as the 
cause of the disaster pervaded the district— that he was openly and extensively de- 
nounced as a traitor ; that his effigy was drawn on the walls of the capital, after its 
conflagration, suspended from a gallows, with the superscription of — ' Armstrong the 
Traitor,' — that a treasonable correspondence with a relative, an officer of the British 
army named Buchanan, who was wounded at Bladensburg, was ascribed to him ; — 
that the heartless remark was imputed to him at Frederick, when the information 
reached there of the destruction of the public buildings, at Washington — ' that the city 
would make as good a sheep-walk as before, and was never fit for anything else ; and 
that other cases of excitement against him were in current report.' " 

Is there anything in my narrative that goes down so deep into the 
causes of the excitement which I state to have existed against General 
Armstrong, as does this testimony } 

I stated in my narrative that " my intercourse was frequent with 
General Armstrong, beginning with the arrival of the British forces in the 
Chesapeake.'''' — I was at that time Adjutant of the first Legion of the 
Militia of the District of Columbia, and acted in that capacity to a de- 
tachment of Volunteer companies in service under the command of 
Col. (now General) Thompson of Washington, at Piscataway, in the 
summer of 1813, when the British shipping were in the Cheasapeake. 
It was then my intercourse with General Armstrong ^^ commenced,''^ he 
beinof at Fort Washino-ton on the Potomac. (See General Thompson's _, 
letter entire m Appendix marked jg. ) 

I was afterwards, by invitation, one of the aides of Major General 
John P. Vanness. My interviews as his staff officer with General Arm- 
strong were then of almost constant occurrancc. Kosciusko Armstrong 
says — " He does not tell us, how it became his peculiar duty to 



k 



14 

report the arrival of troops, or to procure arms for men ^j:^^ not belong- 
ing to the Brigade to which he was attached! I am, therefore, says this 
profound gentleman, at liberty to suppose, that, as officers of the re- 
gular army were on the spot whose business it really was to attend to the 
wants of the soldiery, Mr. McKenney's applications, if he made any, 
were regarded at the war office as the impudent interference of a med- 
dler who trespassed beyond the line of his duty. Taking this view of 
the subject, it is not surprising that he found some difficulty in pro- 
curing army, &c. — " 

If there is a military officer in the United States that does not smile 
at the ignorance and arrogance of this position, it will be because he 
thinks, by some mistake or other, I have, or the press has, misquoted 
the languaii-e of Kosciusko Annstronc:. Then according to this learned 
Theban in military science, and technical military duties, the Major 
General commanding the Militia and Volunteers of the District of Co- 
lumbia had no right (if there were " officers of the regular army" within 
reach) to communicate through his staff, with the war minister at Wash- 
ington ! General Samuel Smith of Baltimore, who refused to the last, 
though a Major General of Militia, only, to surrender his command of the 
troops within his jurisdiction, to General Winder, were he alive, would 
look upon this stripling conception with as much rebuke as he did at 
Mud Fort on the Delaware, upon the English, who sought to carry 
dismay and terror into his then youthful, and always patriotic bosom. 
Officers of the regular army interfering with the command of a Ma- 
jor General of Militia, within his appropriate and law-defined dis- 
trict, and snatching his communications from his legitimate staff officer, 
and bearing them to the " war minister!" — Preposterous. And yet 
this is the way Kosciusko Armstrong seeks to destroy the truth of my 
report of General Armstrong's " apathy," when, as the staff officer of 
Major General John P. Vanness commanding the militia and 
volunteers of the District of Columbia, I bore to him, from time to time, 
down to the day of Major General Vanness' resignation, and General 
Winder's succeeding him, the reports which I had been charged to de- 
liver to him, and the wants of the forces which I was ordered to make 
known to hiin. An assumption, of my "impudent interfei'ence, as a 
meddler," out of which to deduce the justice of being ti-eated as I uni- 
formly was, by General Armstrong— and as I have proven General Smith 
was — and Colonel Minor, and Captain Stull, and even General Win- 
der himself was. It is only necessary for Kosciusko Armstrong to at- 
tach these terms to all these gentlemen, and thus relieve his father 
from the " indignation" which was so universally felt by those, as the 
testimony shows, whose official station brought them in contact with 



15 

him, at tliose periods when the capital was to be defended, and arms 
and equipments were needed to enable the soldiery to protect it. 

But Kosciusko Armstrong has provided against all this, by assuming, 
at page 4 of his review, that this is " the old calumny^ that General 
Armstrong's neglect of duty led to the capture of Washington." 

" Before," he says, " I proceed to comment on the testimony (my 
narrative) it may not be amiss to say a few words of the witness. He 
(meaning myself) was the leading member of the famous, or infamous 
Georgetown mob committee, who waited on the President in 1814 to 
demand General Armstrong's removal from office." Again he says, 
" The Secretary of State (Mr. Monroe) was suspected of being ' art 
and part' in this dirty business." Again he says, at page 10, — " A 
committee purporting to represent the citizens of the district was 
chosen to wait on the President, and demand General Armstrong's re- 
moval from office. The select men were Messrs. Hanson, Bowie 
' and McKenney ; the first a Federal editor, whom the spirit of party 
rancor moved to this action, and the two last, warm^ personal friends 
of Mr. Monroe, vfhose motives may be as easily understood. (In a 
note to this Kosciusko Armstrong says, " This account is founded on 
information contained in letters of a resident of Washington who had 
the means of reaching the truth, whatever care was employed to hide 
it. It is, besides, in strict conformity with the public impressions of 
that day.") We shall see, in the sequel, how true the latter part of 
this sentence is. When their names, Hanson, Bowie and McKenney, 
were announced, the President declined communicating with more 
than one of these unwelcome visitors, and designated Mr. McKenney 
as the least obnoxious of the three. With him he was closeted for 
upwards of an hour, and what passed between them is known only by 
report. That at this time more was rc<]uired than the President would 
give is certain ; and McKenney carried back to his coadjutors the 
news only of doubtful success." 

Again, at page 11 of the "review," — " The reader can now easily 
understand why our author, in relating, for the benefit of his dying 
patron and the guidance of future historians, this tale of other times, 
should have carefully omitted all allusion to the Georgetown Com- 
mittee, to the secret closet, and more secret conversation, to the 
mental struggles of the President (Madison), and the mischievous ac- 
tivity of General Armstrong's enemies. These things but too dis- 
tinctly indicated that a plot existed ; and it became necessary to sink 
them out of sight, and represent the whole business as springing out of 
a sudden fit of patriotic indignation caused by General Armstrong's 
appearance on Windmill Hill ! Who could, from McKenney's narra- 



16 

tive, suppose that he was in this matter anything more than the 
innocent bearer of General Smith's message ? Who could discover in 
this plausible story the fact that for three days he had been laboriously 
engaged in defaming a man who was not present to defend himself ? 
Yet, however cunningly the fable be devised, one fact escapes him 
which may serve to guide us to a right conclusion with respect to the 
leading motive of all this dirty villany — it is the message, so pregnant 
with meaning, of which Mr. McKenney was the bearer : — " Under 
any other member of the cabinet a cheerful and ready obedience will 
be rendered." What was this but an intimation to the President that 
Colonel Monroe was expected to succeed to the vacant place ? &c. &c. 
It was virtually telling Mr. Madison — " It would not suit our pur- 
poses were you to seek a successor to General Armstrong out of your 
own cabinet ; Mr. Monroe is the man for whose interest we have 
labored.''^ 

In these quotations may be seen the element of all this labored 
flourish. It is a manufactured element, thrown into this question to 
neutralize the popular " indignation " against General Armstrong by 
representing the formation of a committee to "jostle" him aside and 
make Mr. Monroe his successor. Out of which the inference intended 
to be drawn is, that General Armstrong was plotted, by a committee, 
out of his place as Secretary of War, and out of his hopes of the 
Presidency — whilst against him, as Secretary of War, there was no 
just cause of complaint whatever. And this being all assumed, is de- 
nominated by the courteous Kosciusko Armstrong " a dirty business^ 

Well, let us look at this fancy sketch of this imaginative gentleman ; 
and test it, so far as it is possible to do so. I interpose to the state- 
ment nothing on the ground of objection to convey to the President a 
message with which the citizens of the District of Columbia might 
think proper to make me their organ. They were not then, and are not 
now, a " dirty" population, and did not then, and do not now, project 
or act in, a " dirty business." I denounce it so far as it concerns 
myself, to be a fabrication from beginning to end, and utterly false. 
It is not trite that I was " a leading member," or member of any sort, 
of the famous or infamous Georgetown Committee, who, it is alleged, 
waited on the President (Madison) in 1814, or at any other time, 
to demand General Armstrong's removal from office. It is not true 
that I was ever associated with Messrs. Hanson and Bowie, either by 
the appointment of the citizens of the District of Columbia or any 
other citizens. It is not true that I ever waited on the President, 
either as one of a Committee, or in my own person, for any such 
object. It is not true that I was closeted with him for upwards of an 



17 

hour, or for any other period of time. It is nol Irv.e that I ever re- 
ported to those who are stated to have been my coadjutors, " the 
news only of doubtful success," or of success of any other sort. It is 
not true that I was ever in a " plot," or did, in a single instance, or 
in any number of instances, contribute, or know anybody who did, 
to " jostle " General Armstrong aside, or in any manner disturb his 
connexion with the government as Secretary of War, save and except 
(if that can be so interpreted) when I was '■'■ the innocent hearer^'''' va. 
connexion with Brigade Major Williams, of General Smith's message, 
growing out of the excitement which the appearance of General Arm- 
strong occasioned on Windmill Hill. It is not true that " for three 
days,^^ or for any other period of time, I had been " laboriously en- 
gaged," or engaged iu any other way, " in defaming a man who was not 
present to defend himself." In a word, I never spoke to the President 
on the subject of General Armstrong's resignation, in all my life, 
or wrote to him ; nor did he ever speak, or write a line to me on the 
subject, nor did I ever exchange a word with Mr. Monroe on the sub- 
ject, or he with me, till, as I state in my narrative, he referred to the 
subject in New York, a short time before his death. ^ Further, at 
•page 12 of the " review," Kosciusko Armstrong states the source of 
my information as to what I state I understood to have passed be- 
tween the President and General Armstrong, when General Armstrong 
ceased to be Secretary of War, to have been " the President himself." 
This is not true. 

And now, having denounced the whole of these allegations to be 
false, I will submit some negative testimony derived from several of the 
citizens of the District of Columbia, well and long known there, who, 
if there had ever been such a Committee as Kosciusko Armstrong says 
there was, must have at least heard of it. I will begin by the most 
solemn assurance that I never heard that Hanson and Bowie, or any 
other persons, were a Committee for the purpose, as stated by Kosci- 
usko Armstrong, or for any other purpose. I have already stated what 
General Smith has testified to, on that subject. (See his letter in 
Appendix A.) Mr. Mallory says (see his letter, C), " At the time 
of these occurrences I resided in Georgetown, and was familiar with 
the movements of Messrs. Hanson and Bowie, and other distinguished 
citizens of that city, and I have no recollection of any such Com- 
mittee ever having been formed for any such purpose as you speak 
of." What says Mr. Stewart ? (See Appendix E.) " I know of no 
Committee of citizens having been raised to effect with the President 
a dismissal of General Armstrong from the war department, and never 



18 

heard of such Committee until now, in your report of Mr. Kosciusko 
Armstrong's publication. From my position at tlie time, I do not be- 
lieve that such a Committee could have existed unknown to me. 
Alexander Contee Hanson (Editor of the Federal Repr.hlican, referred 
to as one of the Committee) was at the time my intimate friend. 
Washington Bowie, the only Bowie of any standing at the time in 
the District, was also my intimate friend and near connexion. I deem 
it almost impossible that either could have been on any such Committee 
without my privity," etc. 

What says General Thompson ? (See Appendix D.) " Until I saw 
your printed card of the ISth December, 1846, I had never heard of 
" a Committee composed of Hanson, Bowie and McKenney, deputed 
by the citizens of the District of Columbia to Mr. Madison to demand 
the dismissal of General Armstrong ; nor do I know of. any other Com- 
mittee having been appointed for that purpose, nor have I ever heard 
your name mentioned in connexion with any such Committee, or 
business, etc., etc. I never heard that you were a ' plotter' to ' jostle ' 
General Armstrong out of place, to get Mr. Monroe in." What says 
Colonel Stull } (See Appendix B.) " I was intimately acquainted 
with Hanson and Bowie — the latter a member of my company — and 
never heard of a Committee composed of those gentlemen, in connex- 
ion with yourself, or of any other Committee, to wait on President 
Madison to demand or ask the dismissal of General Armstrong. I 
did hear that yourself and Major Williams, as aides of General Smith, 
were sent by him to Mr. Madison to apprise him of the excitement 
against General Armstrong, which resulted, I was told, in the with- 
drawal of General Armstrong," etc., etc. 

Now here are five citizens of the District of Columbia ( all of them then, 
and long before, and four of them still residents), as well, and as gene- 
rally known, and as highly respected, as any within or without its limits 
— known to, and known by, almost everybody within the ten miles 
square, all of them men of business, having constant intercourse with 
the population of the three cities ; three of them officers in the 
army, and familiar, therefore, with the troops, all of them well ac- 
quainted with " Hanson, Bowie, and McKenney,'' and yet all testify- 
ing that they had never heard, till now, of such committee, as Kos- 
ciusko Armstrong has declared was selected, and sent to President 
Madison to demand the dismissal of Gen. Armstrong, backing his de- 
claration, in the face of these witnesses, by adding, " It is (the appoint- 
ment of Hanson, Bowie, McKenney, &c.") in .strict conformity 

WITH THE PUBLIC IMPRESSIONS OF THAT DAy' ! ! ! 

But it is not only attempted to support this " committee" contri- 



I 



19 

vanee by the foregoing bold assertion, but, in the same note to page 
10 of his pamphlet, it is stated, 

" This account [the appointment of a committee to represent the citizens of the Dis- 
trict, to wait on the President, and demand General Armstrong's removal from office, 

&C.] IS FOUNDED ON INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THE LETTERS OF A RESIDP:nT OP 

Washington, who had the means of reaching the truth, whatever care was 

EMPLOYED to HIDE it." 

" Hide " ichat 7 Hide this alleged will of " the citizens of the Dis- 
trict," thus openly and nniversally expressed, in selecting three citizens 
to make known that will to the President, which it is alleged was to 
demand Gen. Armstrong's removal from office ? How " hide it ? " By 
making it so open, as for it to be " in strict conformity with the public 
impressions of that day? " For ichat purpose "hide it ^ " But it were 
folly to pursue an inquiry into the palpable absurdity of this conflict- 
ing and truth-opposing statement. If any person or persons did ever 
write any such letters, it must have been to hoax the party to whom 
they were addressed ; or to make a show of knowing more than other 
people, and convert the pretended knovfledge of that which efforts were 
being made to " hide,'''' into personal benefit. The former I look upon 
as the more probable of the two, and for the following reasons : 

First. Mr. Madison had no enemy, political or otherwise, or of more 
determined, or rancorous hostility, in the District of Columbia, or out 
of it, than was Alexander Contee Hanson. Proofs of this exist in the 
columns of the Federal Republican, a paper edited by him, at that 
time, in Georgetown. This was known not only to " the citizens of the 
District," but wherever the paper was known. For those " citizens" 
to have selected this avowed political enemy, as chairman or member of 
a committee to make known their will to the President, upon any sub- 
ject, with any sort of expectation of having, through such an agent, a 
favorable response, is what no reasonable man will, for a moment, be- 
lieve. 

Second. Washington Bowie, an excellent citizen though he was, be- 
longed to the Federal party, and was, if not in his rancor, yet as a 
Federalist, in the same category in those relations towards the Presi- 
dent, and the war, with Mr. Hanson. To have added a third member 
of that school of opposition to Mr. Madison, would have been too fla- 
grant, and must have exposed the contrivance, when the name of 
McKenney was added. Whether the inventor of this hoax had me in 
his eye, or another of the name, it is not possible for me to know, nor 
do I care. A last name, of some friend of the President, was needed 
to mask the scheme of the inventor, and " hide" in part, at least, the 



80 

absurdity of constituting the otlier two members of a committee to ef- 
fect with Mr. Madison any object that might be presented and advo- 
cated by them. 

And this interpretation, besides being in accordance with common 
sense is actually supported by the following remarks of Kosciusko 
Armstrong, following in immediate connexion with this text : 

" When their names were announced, the President declined coni- 
municating with more than one of these unwelcome visitors, and desig- 
nated Mr. McKenney as the least obnoxious of the three. With him 
he was closeted for upwards of an hour,'''' &c., &c. 

So then, these simple, silly, " citizens of the District," had not 
enough of common sense to know that two of their " selectmen " weru 
too "obnoxious " to the President, not only to carry out their will by 
influencing the President's, but even to be admitted into his presence ! 
This, I suppose, will hardly bs believed by any one who does not believe 
the " citizens of the District " to have been but a little removed 
above the level of idiots. 

Mr. Hanson and Mr. Bowie are both dead. Were they alive, they 
would, as I verily believe (for I never heard of their being upon any 
such committee, and do not believe a word of it), meet the allegation 
as I have met it, by their own knowledge of its truthless character, 
and the evidence of their own identity, by denouncing it false. 

But another view of this subject presents itself. It is this : Sup- 
pose, I say suppose, the existence of this committee or of any other 
committee — was the power conferred upon it, so to influence General 
Armstrong as to keep him from providing, as " War Minister," the 
necessary defences in redoubts, and breast-works, &c., for the protection 
of the Capital .? Were they so magic in their influence as to in- 
fuse into him that " apathy," which, on all hands, is attributed to him ': 
Did this magic of this " famous or infamous " committee control his 
purpose and his pen, and lead him to refuse to order Colonel Minor to 
Washington, to join Winder's army, instead of marching to Alexan- 
dria, where, at that time, there was no earthly use for his presence, or 
for the services of his regiment } Did it so operate upon his percep- 
tions of the near approach of the enemy, and upon the stern demands 
of duty, as when, on the President's order, Colonel Minor, with his com- 
mand, reached Washington on the evening of the 23d August (a very 
few hours only before the British forces were in Wa.shington), to lead 
him to defer the furnishing of arms and equipments, though earnestly- 
entreated to do so by both Colonel Minor and the Mayor of the city, 
to the next day t And actually so to delay the matter as to keep Colo- 
nel Minor and his command from uniting with the forces that met the 
enemy .' Did this miracle-performing " committee "fire the indignant 



21 

feelings of Charles Carroll, of Bollevue, to sucli a degree, as to force 
him into an attitude of personal hostility to General Armstrong, and 
to '■'• refuse him his hand," and openly and loudly denounce him as 
the cause of the disaster that had befallen the city ? Did this same 
mightily-endowed committee so operate upon the " War Minister," 
as to lead him to refuse rifles to Capt. Stull's corps of riflemen, than 
whom a better drilled or more efiiciont corps never marched to meet 
the invader ? Was it this committee that caused the " War Minis- 
ter " to be alike indifferent to the application of General Winder him- 
self, for rifles for this same corps ? Was it this committee that fixed, 
in the " War Minister," the resolve to allow this rifle corps to proceed 
a day's march towards the enemy, " armed with tomahawks, only?" — 
and when arms were sent after them, the very sort of arms in the use 
of which they had never been drilled, and these in such a state, as to 
require much time and labor in cleaning them, still retarding their 
preparation for the conflict, by embarrassing the way by which " am- 
munition and flints " reached them ? Did this committee force from 
the lips of the " War Minister " the language attributed to him at 
Frederick, when it was announced to him that the Capitol was burnt, 
viz., " that Washington would make as good a sheep-pasture as ever, 
and was never fit for anything else r" Because, if the committee did 
prompt to all this, and control the War Minister, forcing him thus to 
act and thus to speak, why then, supposing the existence of such com- 
mittee, all the blame and all the " indignation " should fall on 
such committee and not upon the " War Minister ;" but if the com- 
mittee did not and could not thus influence, and control, against and 
upon whom was it most natural for those feelings, spoken of by all the 
witnesses, to expend themselves ? Let the public answer. 

And are there not seen in all this, the elements of just such an 
" outburst" as did occur ? And was it at all unnatural, that such an 
issue should be made as was made, and such a result follow as did fol- 
low it } I leave this to the public to answer. 

But there was another barrier which this committee must have had 
power to overcome ; and that was in the will of President Madison. 
Was this distinguished citizen also lulled by this committee, into 
that state of imbecility as to have no will of his own in the premises i 
Were his great wisdom and untarnished and abounding virtue, that 
will secure to his name and his fame, a place in all time, beside that 
occupied by Washington, both so neutralized by this magic-endowed 
and miracle-working committee, as to be insensible to those alleged 
evils that v/cre brought by its alleged " (^?>i "-assimilating affinities, 



22 

as to leave his " War Minister " to their machinations, to be " jostled" 
by them out of his place as Secretary of VV"ar ; and then without the 
pale of a political rivalship with Mr. Monroe for the Presidency ? 

And all this mighty mischief, as Kosciusko Armstrong would have 
his sophistry make the intelligent public of our enlightened America 
believe, produced by the agency of three men, two of whom were, as 
he alleges, so " obnoxious " to President Madison, as not to be per- 
mitted even to enter his presence chamber ; and the third only a little 
less " obnoxious ;" just so much less so, as to be allowed to go in ? 

But I am tired of following the steps, and exposing the fallacies of 
Kosciusko Armstrong, as set forth in his Review, and therefore quit the 
subject by an appeal to the public for its judgment — 

First — Upon the faithfulness of the narrative which has been so 
fiercely assailed, as proven by the testimony I have adduced ; and. 

Second — Whether that narrative is not, in reality, what its caption 
purports it to be ; viz., a " Vindication of General Armstrong .' " and, 

Third — Whether it can, by any process of rhetoric, even when 
enshrined in low-coined words, and discoLirteous epithets, and personal 
assaults, be looked upon as ha-'^ing been " intended as an attack upon 
the late General Armstrong .'" 

Lyceum House, Brooklyn, N. Y., Feb. 1, 1847., 

P. S. — This roply would havo been sooner given to the public, but 
for the absence from home of some of those with whom I corresponded, 
and the sickness of others. 



APPENDIX. 



A. 

■ Dear Sia :— I have a vivid recollection of the incidents connected with the retire- 
ment of Gen. Armstrong from the War Department shortly afler the occupation of 
Washington by the British troops, during the war of 1812, so far as those incidents 
were made public at the time. I then commanded the 1st Brigade of Volunteers 
and Militia of the District of Columbia, and had an intimate acquaintance with 
most of the military measui'es adopted or proposed for the defence of the District. 

During the period, I had but one occasion of personal communication with Gen. 
Armstrong, but well remember that there was a general and indignant complaint 
among the officers of the District having official communications with him, for his 
great apathy and inertness in regard to the defences of the District, and his frequent 
discourtesy towards those who pressed him on the subject. The instance of my 
personal communication with him was at the Battalion Old Fields, on the day pre- 
ceding the engagement at Bladensburg. At the time. General Winder was absent 
reconnoitring, and in his absence I commanded the troops encamped at that place, 
numbering somewhat more than two thousand, and embracing in that number, 
besides my immediate Brigade, Commodore Barney's men and some other auxilia- 
ries. The enemy were then but a short distance from us with more than double our 
force, and we were expecting an attack during the day, which we had prepared to 
resist. At this stage a messenger arrived in camp from Col. Minor, conunanding a 
regiment from Fairfax Co., Va., with a note to General Winder, stating that he 
was approaching with his force, about a thousand strong, under orders for Alexan- 
dria ; but the information received led him to believe it more important that he 
should move, instead, to Washington, so as to unite with the force then imder Gen. 
Winder's immediate command, and an immediate reply would reach him at the 
point where the roads to the two cities diverged. 

In the absence of General Winder, this note was brought to, and read by, me ; 
and feeling the importance of such an accession to our force, I at once communicated 
it to Gen. Armstrong, then in camp, with a suggestion that, in the circumstances, he 
should issue the requisite order to Col. Minor. He treated the matter with great 
indifference, and in a very unsatisfactory way declined to give any order. I then 
carried the note to Mr. Madison, also in camp, who entertained a different view ; 
and on being told of Gen. Armstrong's course, gave the order direct to Col. Minor 
to move on to Washington so as to unite with us. Under this order. Col. Minor 
reached Washington the .same evening, but failed to unite with us at Bladensburg in 
time to participate in the engagement because of the delay at the War Department 
in furnishing his force with arms and ammunition. 



24 

Some days alter the engagement, when the British troops had retired from Wash- 
ington, and our local forces had been again organiKed there, and we were engaged in 
throwing up defences to resist an apprehended attack by water, from the enemy's 
squadron then lying off Alexandria, Gen. Armstrong returned to Washington and 
rode into our camp ; when the pent up indignation of the soldiery and citizens pre- 
sent, who were disposed to ascribe om- disasters to his apathy and misconduct, at 
once broke forth. My first notice of his presence in camp, was from the loud voice 
of Mr. Charles Carroll, then one of our most prominent citizens, which reached my 
quarters, refusing his prolfered hand, and denouncing his conduct. I was soon 
notified of a general commotion in camp, and a pervading determination, too em- 
phatically expressed to admit of doubt, not to serve under his orders. As became my 
dut)?-, I at once despatched my brigade major, Williams, and yourself then my aide- 
de-camp, to communicate this state of feeling to Mr. Madison, who had but a short 
time before left the camp. You two shortly afterwards reported that you had made 
the communication — I thinlv having overtaken Mr. Madison before he reached his 
quarters in Washington, and bore his assurance to me in re^Dly to the effect that he 
would give to the matter his immediate, deliberate and earnest consideration. He 
also expressed his anxious hope that the officers woitld endeavor to allay the existing 
excitement, and persevere in their mea-sures for defence which had been decided upon, 
and had been sanctioned by him, and stated that, meanwhile, no orders would be 
given by Gen. Armstrong conflicting with them. On the next day it was known 
that Gen. Armstrong had retired from the War Department. 

I feel assured that this is the only foundation for the charge made by Mr. K. Arm- 
strong of a committee having waited on the President, or of plots for the reinoval of 
Gen. Armstrong. I never heard of such committee or of such plots until now, and 
think an}' such could not have escaped my knowledge : from your connexion with 
my military family, you certainly had not the opportimity of participating therein 
without such interruption of yom- then exceedingly active military duties : s must 
have attracted my attention. 

I am very respectfully, 

Yours, &c.. 
Col. Thos. L. McKe.vney, WALTER SMITH. 

GO John Street, Ncio Ycrl:. Gcorgctoicn, Jan. j4, 1847. 



B. 



Georgetow.v, January IG, 18-1* 



Dear Sir : — In reply to your letter, received some days since, wliich I have not 
until now been able to answer, I state in a general way, that I was in a situation to 
know much of what had transpired at and about the period of the burning of the 
Capitol in 1814. I well remember, that there was a very general and intense ex- 
citement against General Armstrong, then Secretary at War, under a belief that the 
fall of the Capital was caused by the neglect to provide the necessary defences, which 
it was considered to be the duty of the Secretary at War to have attended to — his 
refusal to furnish arms, and his indifference and apathy when called upon and 
urged to make due preparations — The indignation against General Armstrong was 
greatly increa.sed by various reports in circulation, both before and after the battle of 



25 

Bladensburg, setting forth his indifiercnce and unconcern as to the fate of Washing- 
ton. The excitement finally burst into a flame, in consequence of a meeting which 
took place between General Armstrong and Major C. Carroll, of Bellevue, on Camp 
Hill, soon after Armstrong returned from Frederic to Washington. I was not pre- 
sent on that occasion, but learned soon after it was stated to have occurred, that 
Carroll had openly and boldly charged him with delinquency and negligence, and 
refused to take his hand until his conduct was explained, and which was followed 
by the outbreak against him which led to his resignation as War Minister. Of 
Armstrong's refusal to furnish arms to troops well qualified and ready to aid in de- 
fence of the Capital, I give the following personal proof. It is well known that at 
that time I commanded one of the largest companies attached to the Brigade, com- 
posed of the best and most respectable members of our communitj', numbering oiie 
hundred and twenty men, raised and formed in 1811, to be always ready for the 
defence of their country ; this company was well and completely equipped and 
drilled, and duly prepared in all respects, with the exception of rifles, which they 
had always hoped and believed would be furnished when their services would be 
required in the field. On the formation of the company in 1811, there were no 
efficient rifles to be had, but for the purposes of drill, parade and exercise, General 
Mason, then Superintendent of Indian Atfairs, loaned me a number of small Indian 
squirrel guns then on deposit in his office. Those guns having been in use for two 
years, became much impaired and were totally useless, and under any circumstance 
unfit for war. In the spring and summer of 1814, it became almost certain that we 
should soon be brought into conflict with the enemy. I accordingly made early 
and repeated application to the Ordnance Department to be furnished with arms 
from Harper's Ferry, but always without success On the appointment of General 
Winder to the command of the lOth Military District, when at a brigade meeting of 
the troops ordered by him, I displayed my company, showed him its strength and 
efficiency, except the proper arms, he at once saw the importance and necessity 
of the measure and called {as he afterwards informed me he had done) on General 
Armstrong ; but was told that we could not have them, and proposed to substitute 
muskets to which my men .strenuously objected, on the ground that they had been 
drilled in the use of the rifle only, and that they had for that reason no confidence in 
muskets. So great was the anxiety of my men to obtain rifles that they were will- 
ing to procure them at their- own expense, ratlier than take muskets. It was finally 
proposed that 1 should call myself on General Armstrong, and to leave no eftbrl 
untried to obtain the Harper's Ferry rifles, of which it was understood there was then 
an abundance in the arsenal at Washington, recently brought down from Harper's 
Ferry. 

I accordingly called on General Armstrong, and urged the importance of rifles 
being furnished; he promptly replied, saying that " these rifles were intended for 
and were aljout to be sent to the Northern army, and could not be spared," remark- 
ing further that " we could repair our old rifles, and that they would answer every 
purpose." I left him with indignation. On the 20th of August the Brigade was 
ordered to march; I repaired in a short time with 100 men to Washington, with the 
alternative either to take muskets or remain at home. It was then agreed, after 
some persuasion on my part, to take muskets ; but when called for, they could not be 
procured in time before the army took up the line of march. We fell into the ranks 
and marched the first day, and encamped the first night with tomahawks only. It 
was not until the next day that we received the muskets, they being sent after us in 
wagons. They were quickly distributed. Much lime and labor were spent in 
cleaning and preparing them for use, and after much difficulty and delay in pro- 



26 

curing ammunition and flints, we commenced the second day's march to find and 
meet the veteran battalions of Lord "Wellington. The result on the 24th August is 
well known. I will only further remark, that it was understood and believed that 
those very arms referred to were destroyed by the British on the 25th August. 

You had been Adjutant to the Legion of Light Infantry, and subsequently to the 
time the Brigade marched to the Old Fields, one of the Aides of Major General Van 
Ness. On his resigning his commission and General Winder succeeding, yom- 
connexion as Aide being dissolved, I well remember you followed the Brigade on foot, 
and having procured my uniform, you enrolled your-self as a private in my company. 
You were very soon afterwards invited by General W. Smith to become one of his 
Aides, but, not being at liberty to withdraw of your own accord from my com- 
mand, you referred the matter to me ; I advised you to accept. You did so, and con- 
tinued to perform the duty of Staff Officer to the end of the campaign, to the entire 
satisfaction, as I understood, of the General. I was intimately acquainted with 
Hanson and Bowie, the latter a member of my company, and never heard of a Com- 
mittee composed of those gentlemen in connexion with yourself, or of any other 
committee, to wait on President Madison to demand or ask the dismissal of General 
Armstrong. I did hear that yourself and Major Williams, as aides of General Smith, 
were sent by him to Mr. Madison to apprise him of the excitement against 
General Armstrong, which resulted, as I was told, in the withdrawal of General 
Armstrong ; but I was not present, as I before stated, on that occasion, and speak 
only from hearsay. 

I am, with re.spect, 

Your obedient, &c. 



Col. Thos. L. McKenney. 



J. I. STULL, 
Late Captain of Georgetown Rillemen. 



c. 



New York, 173 Grceiie Street, January 25, 1847. 

My Dear Sir, — I recollect perfectly well some of the transactions which took place 
in August, 1814, during the inva.sion of the seat of government, and the desecration 
of the city of Washington by the English forces under General Ro.ss and Admiral 
Cockburn, to which you call my attention. 

The charges against General Armstrong, when secretary of war, of incompetence 
— neglect of duty in not placing the Capital in a proper state of defence— and some 
others of a more serious nature, were rife ; and, indeed, common in and about Wash- 
ington and Georgetown, as household words. 

Soon after, or about the time the British ships of war came up to Alexandria, a few 
days subsequent to the burning of the Capitol, I heard Mr. Carroll of Bellevue, at the 
Union Tavern in Georgetown, in the presence of a number of gentlemen say, that 
he had refused General Armstrong's proffered hand ; with the declaration, that his 
conduct required full investigation and explanation before he would again meet him 
as a gentleman, or as an honorable man. Mr. Carroll's language was vehemently 



27 

denunciatory, openlj' charging the secretary of war as the chief cause of the loss and 
disgrace attending these unfortunate and deplorable transactions. 

At the time of these occurrences I resided in Georgetown, and was familiar with 
the movements of Messrs. Hanson, Bowie, and other distinguished citizens of that city, 
and I have no recollection of any such committee ever having been formed for any such 
purpose as that you speak of. 

Respectfully yours, &c. 

DANIEL MALLORY. 
CoL. Thomas L. McKedney. 



D. 

Washington, llih January, 1847. 

My Dkak Sir ; — In reply to the inquiries contained in your letter of the 4th 
instant, received on the 9th, I have briefly to state, that you were Adjutant of the First 
Legion of the Militia of the District of Columbia, and acted in that capacity to a 
detachment of Volunteer Companies in service under my command at Piscataway 
in the summer of I8l3, when the British shipping were in the Chesapeake. I have 
a perfect recollection, whilst encamped at Piscataway, of having addressed a letter to 
the Secretary of War, General Armstrong, then at Fort Washington, making a re- 
quisition for a supply of medicine for the use of the troops, and that in order to avoid 
delay iji procuring what the troops much needed, the letter was placed in your hands 
to be delivered by you to the Secretary in place of forwarding it to the Department at 
Washington Citj'. That you performed this dut}', I have every reason to believe. 
Until I saw your printed card of the I8th December, 1816, I had never heard of "a 
Committee composed of Hanson, Bowie and McKenney, deputed by the citizens of 
the District of Columbia to Mr. Madison to demand the dismissal of General Arm- 
strong," nor do I know of any other Committee having been appointed for such 
purpose ; nor have I ever heard your name mentioned in connexion with any such 
Committee, or business. 

About the time, and :ioon after the capture of Washington by the British, much 
indignation against G aeuil Armstrong was expres.sed by the citizens, and I believe, 
pretty generally enter.a."n?d. I have never heard that you were a " plotter" to "jostle" 
General Armstrong out of place to get Mr. Monroe in. 
With much respect, 

Your obedient servant, 

J . THOMPSON. 

Thomas L. McKenney, Esq. ? 
No. 60 John St., New Yvrk. \ 



28 
E. 

Col. Thos. L. McKenney. 

Georgetown, Iblh January, 1847. 

Dear Sir : — I am in receipt of your letter in reference to your controversy with Mr. 
Kosci'o Armstrong. I take the earliest convenient moment in furnishing such 
answers as my memory supplies to your inquiries. 

I well remember that after the capture of Washington by the British in the year 
1814, a bitter and general feeling of resentment against General Armstrong, as the 
cause of the disaster pervaded this District ; that he was openly and extensively 
denounced as a traitor ; that his effigy was drawn on the walls of the Capitol after 
its conflagration, suspended from a gallows with the superscription of " Armstrong 
the Traitor;" that a treasonable correspondence with a relative, an officer in the 
British army, named Buchanan, who was wounded at Bladensburg, was ascribed to 
him ; that the heartless remark was imputed to him at Frederick when the information 
reached there of tlie desti'uction of the public buildings at Wa.shington ; " that the 
City would make as good a sheep walk as before, and was never fit for anything 
else ;" and that other causes of excitement against him were in current report. I 
speak only of the fact of the existing excitement and of some of the assigned reasons 
for it : of the justness thereof, I do not pretend, here, to express an opinion. After so 
long an interval for passion to subside and reason resume her sway, we may well 
admit that excitement resting on such ground may run into unwarrantable lengths. 
I know of no Committee of citizens having been raised to effect with the President a 
dismissal of General Armstrong from the "War Departmei:! ; and never heard of such 
a Committee until now in j'our report of Mr. Kos'o Armstrong's publication. 

From my position at the time, I du not believe that such Committee could have 
existed unknown to me. Alexander Contee Hanson (editor of the Federal Republi- 
can, referred to as one of the Committee), was, at the time, my intimate friend ; 
Washington Bowie, the only Bowie of any standing at the time in this District, was 
also my intimate friend and near connexion. I deem it almost impossible that either 
could have been on any such Committee without my privity. Of your own action 
at the time, my only recollection is connected with the general commendation of your 
.zealous and efficient devotion to your military duties. 

I am, very respectfully, 

Your obedient servant, 

WM. STEWART. 



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